


as i went walking

by FoxGlade



Category: Inn Between (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Post-Season 2, Pre-Relationship, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 12:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22969825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxGlade/pseuds/FoxGlade
Summary: “Is it so easy to buy your affections, then, that a few carrots is all it takes?” he asks, and thrills only a little at how easily Meltyre blushes.“Well, I never said it was a good present,” Meltyre says, setting Lydda off giggling again.The fond exasperation he feels is more exasperation than fondness, Sterling tells himself, and perhaps if he keeps telling himself then someday St Cuthbert will allow it to be true.
Relationships: Meltyre/Sterling Whitetower
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	as i went walking

It was the kind of day that made a person just that tiny bit more worshipful towards Pelor, all the colours of the land brought into vivid relief by the brightness of the sun, with a gentle breeze to cut through the heat. It was glorious, and it would have been more glorious still, if Sterling had not been only an hour into his guard shift at the entrance of the castle.

Technically speaking, guard duty was a bit below his station as Captain of the Guard, although of course he would perform any duty the Princess saw fit to give him. But it wasn’t the work itself that was causing the headache to form behind his eyes, but instead the unfortunate _chatter._

The entrance to the castle, after all, saw all manner of people passing through its impressive gates. And, as Captain, it was Sterling’s duty to question each and every one of them.

“... and we’ve all heard what happens when the Princess eats eggs, m’lord, although I shouldn’t say that, it’s not as if we gossip about her Highness! It’s just that word gets around and no one wants the poor dear suffering, not after that whole business with the coup and all,” the respectably dressed woman yammers on. Sterling has years of self-discipline to lean back on, but it’s still a challenge not to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“Yes, I recall,” he grates out. “But if _you_ would recall, I asked about--”

“Oh, right, right, the basket. Well as you can see,” she flips the cloth off the top of the basket, revealing bundles upon bundles of carrots, “I just wanted to bring a little gift when I came, you know it’s an important thing I’m here for so I wouldn’t want to make myself an unwanted guest, and my mother always told me how important it is to bring a gift when you enter someone else’s house, and what is the castle, really, if not a very big house--”

“Ma’am, you have yet to tell me your important business,” Sterling says through gritted teeth. “That really is all I need to know. Please.”

The woman blinks, surprised. “Oh! Oh, I’m Tiffany Tiller, I’m supposed to meet with the Minister for Agriculture? Didn’t I say that?”

“No, Miss Tiller, you didn’t,” Sterling sighs, waving her through. “Have a pleasant day, ma’am.”

“Oh, thank you!” the woman says, a little flustered, and hesitates a moment before taking three carrots from her basket and pressing them to Sterling’s chest. He grabs the bundle automatically and stares at it as she hurries on her way.

The guard on the other side of the gate maybe snickers, but he quietens down when Sterling glares at him. Sterling straightens his back and raises his chin, daring anyone else to mock the incredibly dignified way he is clutching the carrots in one gloved hand.

He even manages to maintain his dignity for another two irritating encounters, although his short conversation with a confused caterer is spoken almost entirely through clenched teeth. As the man wanders off, obviously still not convinced that no, the Princess’ birthday celebrations are not for another week, Sterling looks rapidly between his bundle of carrots and the moat of the castle, wondering whether he’d receive more laughter from the other guard for hurling them into the water below, and whether perhaps it’d be worth it for the short-lived relief of being free of this brightly coloured and healthy burden.

“Sterling! Hey, Sterling!” Another distraction, but instantly recognisable as a much more enjoyable one. The carrots are forgotten as Sterling squints at the figures racing towards him.

“Afternoon, Lydda!” he calls out, and is immediately staggered by the impact of two small bodies flinging themselves at his shins. “Am I being attacked?”

“Yes!” Min declares, and bangs her little fist into his unguarded knee. He swallows a wince - she’s a born barbarian.

“Well, that won’t do! You’ve attacked the Captain of the Guard, and he will fight until his last breath - have at thee!” He goes to swoop them both into a fierce hug, only to realise while stooped that he’s still holding his ridiculous burden. “Hold on a moment. Would you girls--”

“Here, let me,” a wobbly voice says, and slender hands finally take the carrots from him. He glances up and smiles.

“Thank you, Meltyre,” he says. “Truly, you have no idea what this means to me.”

“Oh! Uh, okay?” Meltyre’s voice goes even wobblier when he’s surprised. And when he’s upset, or anxious, or angry, or happy - well, it’s just always wobbly, so Sterling really shouldn’t still be having this pleased reaction to it, but here he is, and here they are, and, well. Here they are.

A small hand tugs his, and he looks back down at Seri and Min. “Sterling,” Seri complains, “we’re attacking you!”

“Right! And this is how we punish those who attack guards of the Princess!” And he hoists them both into his arms and over his shoulders, leaning back until they’re both almost upside down and shrieking with joy. “Repent, or to the dungeon with you!”

“Never!” Min cries, beating her fists against his plate-covered back. The other guard is surely looking and laughing at him again for the din she’s making, but he finds he couldn’t care less about that, now. Especially when Meltyre laughs and holds one of the carrots out to Lydda, who’s giggling as well.

“Isn’t the dungeon a little far?” Meltyre says, louder over the commotion. “Maybe you should just throw them into the moat?”

“Meltyyyre,” Seri whines, but Sterling puts on a thoughtful face, exaggerated so that Lydda’s giggles increase. 

“That would be more convenient,” he says, loud and slow. “You truly are a wise and cunning man, Meltyre. To the moat, then!”

“No, we’ll be good! We’ll be good!” Min yells, breaking into giggles of her own. 

Seri wiggles on Sterling’s shoulder and says, “No! Traitor!” before flailing wildly and managing to catch Sterling’s ear with a wild box of her fist.

“Ah! Alright, I surrender, I surrender.” He crouches to let the girls down, then attempts to regain some dignity with a still-smarting ear. If the way Meltyre hides an obvious smile behind his hands is any indication, he isn’t succeeding. “What brings you folk out here? I didn’t see you pass this way.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, we came out earlier, I don’t think you were on duty, yet,” Meltyre says, lowering his hands but still smiling faintly. “It’s a really nice day, isn’t it? I thought they’d like to, uh, enjoy it.”

“And we needed some bread,” Lydda adds. She holds up a loaf which had clearly previously been wrapped with great care in plain cloth, although now it has been unwrapped so that little hands could take chunks out of it. “Would you like some?”

“No, thank you, Lydda, I wouldn’t dream of taking it from you,” he says sincerely. Lydda rolls her eyes.

“I mean, you _could,_ I just offered it,” she says sensibly. “You don’t need to be weird about it.”

“Ah. Well…” He casts around for a way out. Meltyre just smiles and rolls his eyes, looking so much like Lydda that it’s almost unreasonably endearing. It does pull focus to one possible excuse, though. “Well, I would, but I’ve already been provided with some food today.” He makes a move to snatch the carrots back from Meltyre, but the man holds them just out of reach with an impressive dexterity that Sterling wouldn’t have thought to attribute to him. 

“But I thought these were presents for us?” Meltyre says, barely a crack in his voice now and eyes sparking with confidence. Sterling almost misses the days when he could hardly speak without losing any nerve he’d had. The security of castle living has done him wonders, and of course Sterling could never begrudge the happiness that it has brought him, but he can harbour a fond exasperation for the mischievousness streak that has sprung forth as a result, especially as it seems to be almost entirely targeted towards himself.

“Is it so easy to buy your affections, then, that a few carrots is all it takes?” he asks, and thrills only a little at how easily Meltyre blushes. 

“Well, I never said it was a good present,” Meltyre says, setting Lydda off giggling again. 

The fond exasperation he feels is more exasperation than fondness, Sterling tells himself, and perhaps if he keeps telling himself then someday St Cuthbert will allow it to be true.

“Meltyre, you’re being _rude,”_ Seri exclaims, and reaches up to tug the carrots from his hands. “You gotta be nice to him!”

“ _I’m_ being rude? You attacked him!” Meltyre cries. 

“Not for _real,”_ Seri says patiently, and Sterling can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, you should be nicer to Sterling, Meltyre,” Lydda says though her giggles, taking the remaining carrots from her brother and distributing them to Seri and Min, leaving Meltyre empty handed. “Or he won’t wanna see you anymore. You don’t want that, right?”

Sticking out as they do from beneath the brim of his wizard’s hat, Meltyre’s ears are both bright red and highly visible. Maybe Sterling holds more fondness than exasperation towards him, but he would challenge anyone to see Meltyre in this moment and not feel the same. 

“Honestly, that sounds kind of good right now,” he squeaks, voice back to its familiar wobble. “Sterling, can you please take some bread so we can go? Here,” and he takes the loaf from Lydda’s arms, tearing a piece off of it and thrusting it at Sterling.

Gloved as Sterling’s hands are, there is no delicate brush of skin as he takes the offered bread from Meltyre’s hand. But there is the embarrassed smile on his face, and the brightness of his eyes, and the infuriatingly endearing red of his ears, and that is enough. It might even be enough forever, although it’s too early in this… whatever this is, to say.

“Thank you,” he says, and then louder, “And thank you, kind Lydda. Do I owe you a favour, now, for this kindness?”

“Not really,” she says through a mouthful of orange mush. “I mean, you gave us these carrots. Hey, maybe Meltyre owes _you_ a favour, since you got Seri and Min to actually eat a vegetable?”

“It’s kinda tough to do,” Meltyre admits. “You could come over for dinner? You haven’t in a while. I haven’t been mean enough that you don’t wanna see us anymore, right?”

How absurd, that there would be sincere worry in Meltyre’s voice as he says that. It makes Sterling smile despite himself. “You have been rather heavy on the teasing, lately,” he says thoughtfully, and then hastily when Meltyre’s expression drops, “But I do still want to see you! Honestly, Meltyre, sometimes it’s more enjoyable than you being nice to me.”

And now surely he’s the one blushing scarlet. St Cuthbert help him, there’s being honest and then there’s being _too_ honest…

“Okay!” Meltyre says, high-pitched. Sterling can hear Lydda’s outright laughter but dares not look at her, and thus is stuck staring at Meltyre’s too-wide eyes. “Okay! I’ll, um, I’ll t-try and, uh… tease you more, then?”

“That wasn’t meant as permission,” Sterling says, but the damage is so far past being done that it would take a cleric of the highest order to repair it. 

“Yeah, but I’m gonna take it as permission,” Meltyre replies, finally grinning crookedly once more. “So, uh, be prepared for that. At dinner. Tonight?”

“Tonight,” Sterling says firmly. 

They stumble awkwardly though their goodbyes, with Seri clinging to his leg again for a few moments and Min giving him a parting whack to his thigh, and then they head through the gate and into the castle, Lydda giving him a wave with a knowing look that Sterling does his best to ignore.

It really is a beautiful day, he thinks, resuming his dignified stance.

“Cute family,” the guard on the other side of the gate says.

“Shut up,” Sterling says, with utmost dignity.

It is a beautiful day, and with any luck, tonight will be even better.

**Author's Note:**

> me: i love that nothing romantic ever really happened on inn between, everything revolves around the friendships and as an aroace person thats honestly so important to me
> 
> also me: but meltyre and sterling ARE in love and they ARE gonna co-parent meltyre's sisters when they move in together after s2 right?? right????
> 
> apparently this was so important to me that i broke a year long fic-writing dry spell for it so like, take that as you will?


End file.
